I had an interesting encounter today

I wrok in the educational field for the development of cirriculuum and standardized testing.

Today I was in a class and got roped into filling in for a teacher. Whatever, we were doing some classwork and a man walked by dressed in construction garb. He was carrying a toolbox and was in the building with permission and had his visitors pass. This isnt really out of the ordinary.

I turned around and a student raises his hand and whispers "Theres a strange man outside are we ok?" I explained that he was doing some type of work and that everything was ok. Then he mentioned Sandy Hook and whatnot.

These children were sixth graders. Children shouldnt be scared at school. It just felt so wrong listening to him be concerned with such a thing. it was just so sad. I had to share the story, Im not sure why. It just really bothered me for some reason.

caseball, I can totally relate. I worked as a para in an elementary school during 9/11. The lockdowns and paranoia were horrible. But what was worse was a little 2nd grader who got tormented daily afterwards because his name was Osama.

I went to elementary school in the 50's and early 60's. And while it was a much nicer time, horrible things still happened. I vividly remember in 6th grade when Kennedy was shot.

The thing that makes you sad is that the times where children could remain innocent are over.

the closest I've been to anything like that was when in the last grade of elementary I took a multitool with me to school, wich had among other things a flat screwdriver in it. wich enabled me to lock the toilets from the outside, making others think it was occupied, and I did that to the toilet for the lower grades(there where 2, and 2 other seperate ones for the first 2 grades/kindergarten), and when leaving school that day I heard some kids from the lower grades talking to eachother, and overheard them saying that 'meester jan'(the principal) locked the toilet because a there was a 'boef'(childword for criminal) in there. don't remember if I laughed out loud or was able to hold it in, but that was a pretty satisfying prank-moment.

I hope it isn't seen as too insenstive in this context, but reading that just made this memory spring up in my mind since I'm pretty vaped.
and luckily murderous nuts were the last thing I had to worry about as a kid(nor do I worry about them now btw)

if the kids are afraid more than likely its the parents who are afraid (either of the situation or talking appropriately about it) and its rubbed off.

its a decision that is automatic for some but for me i choose to keep many "current events" off the radar of my children best i can. sheltered some may call it. imho there is a time and place that is most suitable for heavy information (i call it "tall talk") and tuning into the nuances of this is key to appropriate upbringing, the mind is a finicky organ. its one thing to explain the importance of being wary of strangers acting strangely and another to suspect a building worker of being an assassin. kids are resilient, their alarmed state of curiosity is likely to pass but the desensitizing has happened fwiw.

things might have seemed simpler a while ago when i was a kid but looking back there was plenty to fear if you wanted to look for it or if it was being fed to you. one thing i remember vividly is just how unsafe a department store was since that was how adam walsh was taken. for a while i would be nearly scared out of my mind in kmart, sears and the like. it worked in my benefit (and the store) as i had issues with stealing as a kid and sticking near my mom in the store cured me of swiping things off shelves, figured it was better to have less toys than to be kidnapped...was easier than a whooping, i got several anyhow.

I went to elementary school in the 50's and early 60's. And while it was a much nicer time, horrible things still happened. I vividly remember in 6th grade when Kennedy was shot.

The thing that makes you sad is that the times where children could remain innocent are over.

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Yup. I was in elementary school in the early 50's. I still remember to this day seeing a full color double page spread in the LA Times of the first hydrogen bomb test in 1952. I was 8 yrs old at the time. I couldn't take my eyes off the picture and kept going back to it for days. The whole two pages was nothing but red and orange with streaks of gamma rays. If there was ever such a thing as mild PTSD in a child............I had it. Without a doubt, that pic traumatized me for a pretty long time, and every time we had the "duck and cover" drills in school, that pic came back to me loud and clear.

that is sad yet we cannot change the nature of humans. i feel it is good that the children are aware of these events and applying it to those surrounding them, but being afraid in an environment that is meant to educate and nourish these children is something that should not happen. it is the parents job to ensure that their children are knowledgable of these issues to an extent to not frighten them, and furthermore the instructors job to ensure safety and reduce any sort of fear

And thats the deal. Wonder why people are popping fuses all over the place? Its the "invisible" pressures. We have been in a constant state of perpetual war for how long now? I don't even remember, formally in a state of emergency for over 50 years I think. One person household income? Not anymore, these days even double income is getting thin as taxes and the cost of living increase. Shit, just data alone if you look at cable, cell phone, home phone and Internet, thats $500 a month right there then theres utilities etc. The Fed has seen to it that the dollar is now only worth $.02 compared to when it was created . . . 47 million + people on food stamps, and it seems all Hollywood (video games and most of tv included) can do is glorify the war, killing, and murder being perpetuated globally, almost daily (O Dark Thirty etc) Plus they are poisoning the food and water supply, if you have kids then the government is vaccinating them and checking the contents of their lunch boxes . . . all this pressure finds its way in some form or another to the kids and of course for the media its just more grist for the mill.

I really don't think that it's in our DNA to be innocent for very long. Since the beginning of time, it's always been about survival. Yeah, we like to think we can stretch that innocence out for awhile, but I really don't think that's the way of things..............never has been.

Yeah I know lwien, but you really got me thinking in that one thread you started after, jeebus, I can't even remember which mass shooting it was, but anyways, I have been thinking about why people are flipping out so much these days . . . and its a culmination of so many pressures and a culture of death, war, and worshiping violence. Some visible some not so much. I could have gone on and on, the point is, the system is about broken, I think thats why both sides are so polarized on how to move forward. I heard a sick joke that the fed was going to mint a $1 Trillion platinum coin with Obama's picture on it to pay the debt. The systems that are for a large part responsible for getting our needs met, are about to get a financial jolt.

crawdad's sig says it well:

it is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society.

So as not to derail this thread, I am posting a video about Caine's Arcade in another thread. It made me smile when I saw it today and also remember a time that was much simpler. A time when kids played with boxes instead of video games.

its good to remember that we as a species are still evolving and in some cases (imho) are playing catchup within our minds (wisdom) after the last hundred years or so of what appears to be an accelerated growth of understanding (knowledge).

i think there is a tipping point where our collective understanding obliterates any potential argument to justify the social pressures but i believe this to be a personal understanding that leads to enlightenment and not one that can be taught easily outside of living examples. weed helps.